A Flexible Attitude

We are looking at three attitudes, found in Jeremiah 18, that we must possess in order to shape the things to come in our lives. The first was a teachable spirit. The second attitude is flexibility. We must stay pliable in the hands of the Potter.

Jeremiah 18:4 says, “But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.” The phrase "the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped" is a fascinating phrase to me (see my post on January 11, 2013..."Even In His Hands, We Can Become Marred). But that is not the point of today's post.

The emphasis today is this...the clay was flexible and pliable enough that the Potter could continue to work with it. Have you ever heard someone say, "Well, that's just the way I am...live with it." Why do we think we can do that and expect to succeed in any arena of life, especially our spiritual lives. Try telling your boss "Well, that's just the way I am...if you want me to work here...live with it." Try telling your bank, "Well, I just spend a lot of money...live with it." We instinctively know to shape our future on our jobs or in our finances, we have to be flexible, pliable. Why in the world would we think we could tell the Potter that deep-seated flaws are just the way we are...live with it?

And here's the deal about our Heavenly Potter: If we are not pliable, He will moisten us and crush us (read verse 4 again) until He can work with us. The choice is ours. We can choose to be flexible in His hands, or we can become bitter, brittle, and hard. The results of our choice will be obvious.